May 2011 a Mess

From ComingSoon.net:

"Variety has confirmed reports that Sony Pictures has indeed postponed production on Spider-Man 4 so that more work can be done on the script.

Gary Ross, David Lindsay-Abaire and James Vanderbilt previously wrote drafts of the screenplay, and the trade says that Alvin Sargent is now 'retooling the story'. Sargent worked on the scripts for both the second and third Spidey movies.

Back in December, SuperHeroHype was told by the studio that the production was not on hold but that they were simply on hiatus for the holidays and that production would resume in the new year. Obviously, that is not the case.

Sony still has the movie scheduled for a May 5, 2011 release (not May 6 or May 11 as some sites are reporting), but Variety adds 'that date has become highly unlikely.'

'We'll try, but I think making May is a real question,' a source told the trade. 'We will not start until we have it right. The feeling is we are not going to rush it to make the date.'"

Because of that, May got rescheduled!

From ComingSoon.net:

"With yesterday's announcement that Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 4 will not start production in time for its planned May 5, 2011 release, other studios are looking to grab some of those dates for their own tentpoles. Making that rumored delay official is the news that Marvel Studios and Paramount will be releasing Kenneth Branagh's Thor on Spider-Man's original release weekend, kicking off the summer on May 6, two weeks earlier than its original release plan.

With Thor moved up two weeks, Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer Films' Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides grabbed its now-vacated date of May 20 for its own release one week before Memorial Day and the release of Todd Phillips' The Hangover 2.

According to Variety, Sony hasn't abandoned the date yet and still hopes to get Spider-Man 4 done in time, but Paramount has decided to not wait to see what Sony does before grabbing that date themselves. They suggest that if Sony decides to keep that date then Thor will move again, although it's doubtful they can get May 20 back again.

At this point, Sony hasn't announced a new release date for Spider-Man 4. July 4th that year has been held for Michael Bay's Transformers III followed two weeks later by the Harry Potter finale and then The First Avenger: Captain America, which hasn't even announced its cast yet, the following week. (Warner Bros.' Green Lantern has already grabbed June 17, potentially making it one of the busiest summers for comic book and superhero movies in some time.)